As a snapshot of the food and drink scene, it’s worrying for the future health of the town’s independent restaurants, though, it’s scarcely a scientific study.

This particular reader’s conclusion is a dramatic one – “there’s going to be a blood bath in the New Year,” he warns.

Before anyone starts crying “bah humbug” in this festive season of good will, I do have a confession to make.

It may not quite be a case of sleeping with the enemy but one of my favourite moments of 2017, speaking completely personally, was when I stood toe to toe with the Italian TV celebrity chef Gino D’Acampo on the ground floor of what was about to become the latest chain restaurant to open in Harrogate.

It’s always the same names that crop up, the same people who run things.

The longer I’ve worked on this newspaper the more I’ve realised this applies to almost everything.

From running clubs to community galas, charities to action groups, from the arts to sport, a small number of dynamic individuals always seem to set the pace.

It’s true there’s a sea of helpers below the surface but nothing happens without a driving force.

Interviewing a minor legend of the 1960s in the Spirit of 67 multi-media arts event I co-curated independently last summer with Harrogate’s RedHouse Originals gallery, made me aware that it’s probably the same the world over.

The man in question was Mike McInnerney.

He was the artist who designed the cover of The Who’s classic album Tommy and co-organised the legendary 14 Hour Technicolour Dream at Alexander Palace in 1967.

In London at the height of the ‘Swinging Sixties, he told the audience, there was probably no more than 100 people in the city who actually made a difference.

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